BEANS TALIMPU|BEANS & LENTILS WITH DILL

Beans Talimpu is my mom’s recipe. It tastes great with hot rice. She also makes a rasam/soup with the water used to boil the veggies and lentils. I used to walk in home and my mom used to serve these with hot rice and ghee (clarified butter)….. Foodie heaven.

The lentils I have used for this recipe is split pigeon peas (toor dal) but you could easily substitute it with mixed lentil bag that is easily available at every supermarket or just any lentil you have on hand. The process for cooking remains the same.

Dill is a herb with a pretty strong flavour. You either like it or you don’t. For those of you who like it,you should try this at home. And for those of you who don’t like it, you should definitely try this at home. I shall assure you that you will fall in love with the herb.

Served with Rice/Roti & ghee, it can be a balanced meal in itself covering all the essential food groups! Here is my

Beans Talimpu Recipe

1 1/2 cup chopped String beans (French beans can be used too. French beans are only longer, thinner & crisper)

3/4 cup chopped dill

4 cloves of garlic chopped

4 green chilies slit

Water for boiling

3 whole red chilies broken into 1 inch pieces

1/4 cup finely chopped onions

3-4 curry leaves (optional)

Pinch of turmeric

Pinch of baking soda (optional)

Pinch of asafetida (optional)

1 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

Directions

Add toor dal to a pan full of water and add a pinch of turmeric and a pinch of baking soda to it (these help the dal cook faster and become softer).

Let the water along with the dal start boiling. After about 5 min of boiling, add chopped French beans, slit green chilies, and 2 chopped garlic cloves.

Cook them on high heat for about 10-12 min or until the dal is almost soft.

Now, throw in the chopped dill and continue cooking for another 5 min until the dal breaks at the slightest pressure from your finger.

Turn the heat off. Let it stand for a while.

Drain the excess water.

Take oil in a pan. When hot, add asafetida, curry leaves and whole red chili pieces.

Add 2 chopped garlic cloves. When they turn golden, add the chopped onion and cook until they turn translucent.

Add the boiled veggie/lentil/herb mixture and salt.

Cover and cook another 2-3 min on medium high heat until the flavours merge together.

Serve with a side of roti/rice.

My Take:

Cooking the dal and beans using a pressure cooker definitely makes it faster but chances are the dal gets overcooked and mushy or remains undercooked.

The excess water drained is very healthy and full of flavor. I make rasam/soup with it. If I am not in a mood to make the rasam, I freeze the excess water in ice trays and use them as stock when a recipe calls for it.

2 Comments

This is my fav too Prashanthi…… we make this regularly, but with only one cereal and do not use dill leaves (I love dill, but our recipes do not allow use of those leaves much)and we use the drained water to make rasam with garlic seasoning….. as you say, the aroma is heavenly…. am making it today … 🙂